1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables. More specifically the invention pertains to a method of managing production of printing systems, each including an ink jet printer and a computer, and supply of expendables.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For supply of expendables, such as ink and paper for printing, in an ink jet printer, the user who bought or rents the ink jet printer conventionally purchases the expendables specified by the manufacturer of the ink jet printer or compatible expendables.
In the case of high-performance ink jet printers, however, the compatible expendables may not ensure sufficient execution of performances of the ink jet printer. This drawback is remarkable in a printing system for business use, in which multiple ink jet printer modules are incorporated. Careful management is also required in the printing system for business use, in order to assure timely supply of expendables.
The method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention aims to construct a system that ensures sufficient practice of performances of an ink jet printer. The method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention also aims to adequately supply expendables, in order to ensure sufficient execution of the performances of the ink jet printer. The method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention still aims to rationalize management of supply of the expendables.
In order to attain at least part of the above and the other related objects, the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention has the following arrangement.
The present invention is thus directed to a method of managing production of a printing system, which includes an ink jet printer and a computer, and supply of expendables. The method includes the steps of: (a) causing a system construction section to construct the printing system by assembling at least one printer module supplied from a modules expendables production section, which produces a printer module including at least a head of the ink jet printer and expendables consumed by the printer module, and a computer that controls a printing operation of the at least one printer module; (b) installing at least one printing system thus constructed in a predetermined place; and (c) causing an expendables supply section to obtain a supply of expendables, which have been consumed by the printing system installed at the predetermined place, from the modules expendables production section and give the supply the expendables to the printing system.
In this method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables, the section of producing printer modules is different from the section of constructing the printing system. Selection of high-quality printer modules and high-quality system construction attains the higher-performance printing system. Still a different section takes charge of supply of expendables. This arrangement ensures adequate supply of expendables. The expendables (for example, printing ink and printing paper) consumed by the printer modules are produced by and supplied from the section of producing the printer modules as the genuine expendables suitable for the printer modules. This ensures sufficient execution of the performances of the ink jet printer. The system of multiple sections desirably reduces the quantity of data to be managed in each section, thus enhancing the processing speed and improving the reliability.
In accordance with one preferable application of the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, the printing system installed at the predetermined place is under management of maintenance by the system construction section. In this application, the printing system is under management of maintenance by the system construction section, which has produced the printing system, thus sufficiently exerting its performances.
In accordance with another preferable application of the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, the supply of the expendables by the expendables supply section is carried out based on a state of consumption of expendables, which is collected from the printing system installed at the predetermined place via communication. This arrangement ensures adequate management of supply of expendables.
In accordance with still another preferable application of the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, the expendables supply section outputs information on charging for the supply of expendables to the printing system, which has received the supply, via communication. This arrangement enables the information on charging for the supply of expendables to be output to the printing system without delay. In this application of the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, it is preferable that the information on charging is output via communication to a printing system, which includes a receipt printer under driving control of the computer, so as to cause the receipt printer to print the information on charging. This arrangement enables the information on charging to be printed with the receipt printer.
In the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, it is preferable that the production of expendables by the modules expendables production section is managed, based on the state of consumption of expendables collected from the printing system installed at the predetermined position via communication. This arrangement ensures production of expendables based on the production plan of exact quantities, while attaining adequate management of the stock.
In the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, it is also preferable that the production of expendables by the modules expendables production section is managed, based on the supply of expendables given to the predetermined place by the expendables supply section. This arrangement also ensures production of expendables based on the production plan of exact quantities, while attaining adequate management of the stock.
In the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, it is further preferable that the production of expendables by the modules expendables production section is managed, based on the acquisition of the supply of expendables by the expendables supply section. This arrangement also ensures production of expendables based on the production plan of exact quantities, while attaining adequate management of the stock.
In accordance with another preferable application of the method of managing production of printing systems and supply of expendables according to the present invention, the expendables supply section outputs information on the supply of expendables to the system construction section via communication. In this application, the system construction section performs appropriate maintenance of the printing system, based on the information on the supply of expendables.